SILAO, Mexico — Mexico’s central Bajío region, which Pope Benedict XVI will visit this month, is known for its agriculture and colonial towns. But not long ago it was also the site of some of the most brutal massacres in Mexico’s history, even bloodier than today’s.

The area in the central state of Guanajuato takes the world stage with Pope Benedict’s March 23-26 visit, with violence raging elsewhere in Mexico and a presidential election just months away.

The region gave root to the nation’s conservative political party, in power the last 12 years, and it might also provide a lesson for those seeking answers to the nation’s drug violence, which has claimed the lives of more than 50,000 people since December 2006.

This is the pope’s first visit to Mexico, the country with the second-largest Catholic population, after Brazil, but it comes at a critical time, experts say.

“Pope Benedict comes at an urgent time to raise his voice and say the future will not be determined by violence, but by people’s hopes and a belief that they will rise above fear, and, unfortunately, nobody with a moral tone in Mexico is saying that right now,” said the Rev. Arturo Banuelas, co-founder of the Academy of the Catholic Hispanic Theologians in the United States.

“Someone has to say, ‘This is not your history, this is not the Mexican character. … Maybe that’s the lesson of the Cristero movement, which taught us the importance of faith to fight for something bigger. Today, people aren’t fighting for faith and values, but for greed, drugs, and in the process they’re killing a lot of innocent bystanders.”

The 1926-29 Cristero uprising, also known as the Cristiada, reflects one of the darkest chapters in the nation’s history, but it left the region steeped in the brand of conservative Catholicism that gave rise to President Felipe Calderón’s National Action Party, or PAN, said John Womack, a noted historian at Harvard University.

The religious uprising, in which rebels fought against the anti-clerical policies of Mexico’s ruling generals, began in the neighboring state of Jalisco but soon spread to others, including Michoacán and Guanajuato. More than 90,000 people were killed, he said.

“The Cristero uprising left a bitterness that’s still not entirely gone away,” Womack said. “The influence of the conflict remains very present in Mexico today.”

Among the rebels was Calderón’s father, Luis Calderón Vega, who took up arms in defense of the church. Later, in 1939, still fighting government persecution long after the uprising, he joined other conservative Catholics to found the PAN. It became Mexico’s main opposition party, until rancher Vicente Fox of nearby San Cristóbal, Guanajuato, won the presidency in 2000, sweeping the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, out of office after 71 years. Felipe Calderón succeeded Fox in 2006.

Experts say the pope’s visit, coming so close to the July 1 election, could provide a boost for the current PAN candidate, Josefina Vázquez Mota, who has been narrowing the gap against PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto, who once had an aura of invincibility. His lead in polls has dwindled by half, to less than 10 percentage points. The third candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of the left-leaning Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, is in third place, according to recent polls.

“Consequently, and in an indirect fashion, the PAN will emerge after the visit as the paladin of Catholic principles in Mexico,” said Jesús Velasco, an expert on U.S.-Mexico relations at Tarleton State University, adding that the visit also will help Calderón’s image.

“The pope’s visit will show the world that in a dangerous area of Mexico, the country could be secure,” Velasco said. “The government will try to show to the Mexicans and to the world that the president has the power to provide security to thousands of people.”

Calderón has insisted that the pope’s visit is nonpolitical and has pledged to his countrymen, and particularly to PRI members hoping to recapture power, that he will not attempt to use the visit for political gain.

Regardless of how it plays out, the pope’s visit is welcome news in this region, one of the few that has been left virtually unscathed by the violence that has scarred so much of this country of 112 million. Massacres, prison riots and grim discoveries of clandestine mass graves continue to be on the front pages of newspapers throughout a mournful nation.

“There’s a lot of sadness, trauma, emptiness, brokenhearted people in Mexico,” said Banuelas, who is also a pastor at St. Pius X Church in El Paso. “The pope’s visit will hopefully provide answers to the despair.”

The sentiment is shared by residents of Silao, outside the industrial city of León and the site of a gigantic Mass scheduled for March 25 at the Bicentennial Park, which is next to the GM plant and across from the Cerro del Cubilete, an iconic religious landmark that serves as a monument to the Christian uprising.

“I’m hoping his message will lift our spirits,” said Vicente Rocha González, 45, a security guard. “Maybe that’s too much to ask for, but if anyone can deliver, other than God, it is the pope.”

A crew of construction workers toiled at the park, putting the final touches to a giant altar that will be decorated by artisans to showcase Mexico’s colorful culture. The pope will offer Sunday Mass from this spot.

“This is more than a job,” said José Arredondo, one of the construction workers. “This is a blessing for many of us, to be able to build something that will be viewed by millions all over the world. It makes you feel proud.”

The Mass is expected to draw tens of thousands of pilgrims from Mexico and the United States, including some from North Texas.

Olivero Castillo, 40, and his 3-year-old son, Brandon, hope the visit will lead to a family reunion. His brothers, uncles and aunts live throughout North Texas, he said, but his pleas for them to come down for the pope’s visit have so far fallen on deaf ears.

“Everyone is scared,” he said. “I haven’t seen them in at least three years. I’m still hopeful they will change their minds and the pope helps them find strength, because with all our history here, this is a sacred place, this is home even if you live in Texas. I hope the pope’s visit helps all of us feel like family again.”